After chasing maple flavor for my bacon for over 20 years I have finally found the recipe that works for me! Picked up a 11.44 pound pork belly at Costco, biggest they had on display at $4.29lb.
Slurry Cure:
90 grams canning salt
1/2 cup 100% pure Grade A maple syrup
1/2 cup clover honey
1/2 cup brown maple sugar
13 grams Cure #1
1 - 2 ounce bottle Mapeline
Cut the belly in half and applied a equal amount of the slurry to each side, rubbed in real good all over
Put each piece of belly in a 2-gallon Ziploc freezer bag with equal amounts of the remaining slurry cure, then double-bagged them and into the fridge. Every morning and evening I took the belly bags out for a massage, and rotation flip, after five days I added one cup of water into each bag, back into the fridge for another seven days, still massaging the meat and flipping twice a day. Day 13 it was out of the fridge for a thorough rinse in the sink, then a one hour ice water bath.
Towel dry and back to the fridge for a couple of hours, then it was time to fire up my Pro 100 smoker. I let the belly hang for 2 hours to dry and form a pellicle at 100º with vents wide open. After two hours I closed the vents to 1/3 open, raised the temp on the Pro 100 to 115º, and put in a pan of apple chips for five hours. Five hours later I put in a fresh pans of apple chips, raised the smoker temp to 135º, good for the next eight hours, I went to bed. After the 8 hour smoke I removed the chip pan, closed the vents, and jacked the smoker temp up to 165º, pulled at a IT of 139º
Pulled and on the kitchen island, both pieces done exactly to a IT of 139, the Pro 100's pretty hard to beat! The color and aroma were amazing, could just feel that maple!
Back into the fridge overnight, uncovered on wire racks. Got things squared up with a sharp blade to fit the vac-seal bags, cut thick slices just the way I like.
First bite of the test fry told me all needed to know, real maple flavor coming thru, I've finally found what I've been searching for, this stuff is better then eating candy! I thought I might try cold smoking a batch next time using the same curing method, tho I believe the smoke really brings something to the table too. Plenty of time to think on that, can't cold smoke here until after Xmas to be safe, just gets too hot. Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it, thanks for lookin' in and y'all stay safe out there. RAY
Slurry Cure:
90 grams canning salt
1/2 cup 100% pure Grade A maple syrup
1/2 cup clover honey
1/2 cup brown maple sugar
13 grams Cure #1
1 - 2 ounce bottle Mapeline
Cut the belly in half and applied a equal amount of the slurry to each side, rubbed in real good all over
Put each piece of belly in a 2-gallon Ziploc freezer bag with equal amounts of the remaining slurry cure, then double-bagged them and into the fridge. Every morning and evening I took the belly bags out for a massage, and rotation flip, after five days I added one cup of water into each bag, back into the fridge for another seven days, still massaging the meat and flipping twice a day. Day 13 it was out of the fridge for a thorough rinse in the sink, then a one hour ice water bath.
Towel dry and back to the fridge for a couple of hours, then it was time to fire up my Pro 100 smoker. I let the belly hang for 2 hours to dry and form a pellicle at 100º with vents wide open. After two hours I closed the vents to 1/3 open, raised the temp on the Pro 100 to 115º, and put in a pan of apple chips for five hours. Five hours later I put in a fresh pans of apple chips, raised the smoker temp to 135º, good for the next eight hours, I went to bed. After the 8 hour smoke I removed the chip pan, closed the vents, and jacked the smoker temp up to 165º, pulled at a IT of 139º
Pulled and on the kitchen island, both pieces done exactly to a IT of 139, the Pro 100's pretty hard to beat! The color and aroma were amazing, could just feel that maple!
Back into the fridge overnight, uncovered on wire racks. Got things squared up with a sharp blade to fit the vac-seal bags, cut thick slices just the way I like.
First bite of the test fry told me all needed to know, real maple flavor coming thru, I've finally found what I've been searching for, this stuff is better then eating candy! I thought I might try cold smoking a batch next time using the same curing method, tho I believe the smoke really brings something to the table too. Plenty of time to think on that, can't cold smoke here until after Xmas to be safe, just gets too hot. Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it, thanks for lookin' in and y'all stay safe out there. RAY
